文章基本信息

标题：Liquid-solid transition in nuclei of protein crystals
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作者：Aleksey Lomakin ; Neer Asherie ; George B. Benedek 等
期刊名称：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN：0027-8424
电子版ISSN：1091-6490
出版年度：2003
卷号：100
期号：18
页码：10254-10257
DOI：10.1073/pnas.1334069100
语种：English
出版社：The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要：It is generally assumed that crystallization begins with a small, crystalline nucleus. For proteins this paradigm may not be valid. Our numerical simulations show that under conditions typically used to produce protein crystals, small clusters of model proteins (particles with short-range, attractive interactions) cannot maintain a crystalline structure. Protein crystal nucleation is therefore an indirect, two-step process. A nucleus first forms and grows as a disordered, liquid-like aggregate. Once the aggregate grows beyond a critical size (about a few hundred particles) crystal nucleation becomes possible.